Factory gives cell tower to expand connection in the field – 05/05/2023 – Market

When the subject is agricultural machines, what is most often heard from manufacturing companies today is that they have, in their embedded technology, connectivity for real-time transmission of information obtained in the field.

But, in a country where about 70% of rural properties do not have internet, what is the point of buying a harvester that can cost more than R$ 5 million if the producer is unable to use all the technological resources available in it?

To try to answer this and other questions and, at the same time, market their machines, companies operating in Brazil seek to expand the connection in the field by partnering with competitors and offering benefits to buyers that may include receiving a cell phone tower for those who do. large investments in this regard in their properties.

This is what Case IH is doing, offering the tower to rural producers when purchasing a package of machinery and equipment for the farm worth more than R$ 15 million.

The value, high for those who have no connection with agribusiness, may represent the purchase of only three grain harvesters, depending on the brand and technology.

At the Agrishow (International Agricultural Technology in Action Fair), which ended last Friday (5) in Ribeirão Preto (313 km from São Paulo), at least six machines from different manufacturers, including tractors, grain and sugarcane harvesters and forage, had base prices greater than R$ 3 million. Between R$ 1 million and R$ 2 million, there are at least another three dozen.

The final values ​​vary according to the taxes charged in each state and optional items installed in the machines.

“A third of the amounts invested have been in technology and our objective is that, by the end of the year, 100% of the machines leave the factory connected”, said Christian Gonzalez, Vice President of Case for Latin America.

The basic investment to connect a place that today lives in a shaded area costs between R$ 350 thousand and R$ 400 thousand, according to ConectarAgro, an association that during the agricultural fair in the interior of São Paulo announced the arrival of Amazon and Vivo among the most of 40 associates.

President of the association, Ana Helena de Andrade said that the importance of connectivity in agriculture is not only for the producer to obtain more income, but also for it to be possible to solve issues such as increasing the demand for food in the world.

The giant area discovered in the country led, in 2019, a group of companies that bet on technology in the field to unite to create ConectarAgro, including competitors such as Valtra, New Holland, Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Case, Bayer Vivo and TIM. “We are together for what unites us, not for what divides us”, said the president.

From 7 million hectares covered between the start of activities and last year, the total has risen to 14.4 million today.

This is due to the contracts closed with 40 large agricultural groups in the country, which invested heavily to connect their machines. As the signal is open, a total of 90,000 small rural producers around the large properties ended up benefiting from the installation of transmission antennas.

TIM informed that its goal is to reach 16 million hectares with 4G by the end of this year.

“All machines [atuais] speak, but few can hear what they say. Expanding connectivity is essential,” said Alexandre Bernardes de Miranda, vice president of Anfavea (National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers) and institutional relations executive at CNH Industrial.

The association signed a memorandum of intent with the UFV (Federal University of Viçosa) for a study on the elaboration of the ICR (Rural Connectivity Index), with the aim of reflecting the importance of the rural environment and agricultural production in the country.

The idea is that the index has weights for existing technology and the value of agricultural and livestock production – like knowing who has 2G, 3G or 4G internet, for example, and what are their implications for the operation of machines.

“It won’t be the seed variety, a magic seed, that will make the field produce more, but the technology”, said Eduardo Kerbauy, vice-president of New Holland Agriculture for Latin America.